


secrets in the stars

by mackattack12



Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F, Star Wars AU, gays in space, light side/dark side drama, some gert/chase but mostly deanoru
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2020-01-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:34:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22039381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mackattack12/pseuds/mackattack12
Summary: in a galaxy far far away.... the runaways find themselves facing the evil Magistrate as a prophecy looms over them.orkarolina discovers she can lift rocks with her mind and nico wishes that's all the force could do
Relationships: Karolina Dean/Nico Minoru
Comments: 24
Kudos: 101





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> hi folks, i'm a massive star wars fan and i thought it'd be fun to send our fav soulmates to space. the prologue focuses on the parents but after that it'll be from the kids pov.

**Leslie**

The red robe is starting to feel as much a part of her as the blood in her veins (or perhaps the blood on her hands that she can never completely wash away).

They surround their prey in a neat circle that comes from years of practice. The woman in the center isn’t trembling or crying or begging and Leslie is grateful. She’s learned by now it’s best to accept when you’re defeated. When the odds are stacked against you and fighting is useless. It seems this woman gets that too.

The woman they’ve trapped is young, younger than all the others. It makes sense. She is after all the last of her kind. The last Jedi.

Leslie looks around the circle of red robes, the mighty Pride does not look so mighty now.

Stacey and Dale look pained. They've always hated this and yet here they are. Fear of Jonah overpowering whatever scraps of a conscience they might have left, she thinks.

Victor looks bored. Probably thinking about the schematics for whatever he’s been building for Jonah. Something Jonah refuses to share with the rest of the group.

Even her. 

The others stand with their features painted with blank resignation that they've developed after years of this, years of killing the guardians that once protected the galaxy. All for what?

Money? 

Power? 

Legacy?

All reasons that initially captured the attention and eventual willing (and at times unwilling) devotion of the Pride members. But not her. 

It was love in her case. Young love. Possibly more destructive than whatever Victor Stein can design in his lab. Everything she'd done, she's done for him, for love. But at what cost?

The crackling buzz of an ignited lightsaber wakes Leslie from her reverie.

Tina steps forward, her face illuminated by the red glow of her double bladed saber. Red robes, red saber, red blood. Leslie watches as Tina raises her saber to strike the kneeling woman in the center. The woman they've tracked to this forrest planet after months of searching. Destiny. But before Tina can deliver the fatal blow, Destiny speaks.

“Wait.”

“You cannot stop this.” Tina spits, agitated and impatient.

“You're right. I cannot stop you. But you must hear me. There is a prophecy--”

“Ridiculous. Even now trying to save your skin. I never took the Jedi for cowards--”

“Tina.” Leslie barely hears her own voice but she knows she’s spoken because they all look at her. She doesn’t know why she said anything except she does. Her father once spoke of a prophecy and she'd ignored him then, so blinded, so consumed by Jonah, but now. Now she's inclined to listen.

Even if what she hears destroys everything.

“Let her speak.” She says with more bite. Tina's lips twitch, most likely envisioning all the ways she could kill her. 

“Yes, let her.” Robert steps forward. Tina’s husband always seemed like a shell compared to the raw power that Tina exudes but in this moment, as he stares defiantly at his wife, he looks just as strong even without the lightsaber. The others nod, sensing a shift.

“Fine. If you want to listen to the lies of a dead girl then go ahead.”

Destiny’s face remains neutral. Leslie hopes that means the woman is at peace but she doubts it.

“You may have power now Pride but your power has come at the cost of balance. You have unleashed chaos and darkness but the dark side will not reign forever. Two will come, one of darkness and one of light. They will restore order, balance to the galaxy. Both will fall for the survival of the light.”

Once the words leave Destiny’s lips, silence falls over Pride as they let the prophecy seep through their robes and into their skin. 

_One of darkness_

_One of light_

_Both will fall..._

“Jedi scum.” Tina hisses as she raises her saber again.

“Wait.” This time it’s Stacey stepping forward, pulling Dale along with her. “Why are you telling us this?” She asks, ignoring Tina’s murderous glare.

“You may have chosen to follow the Sith but your children have not.”

At the mention of "children," Pride erupts.

_“What do you mean?”_

_“What do you know about our children?”_

_“Who told you this?”_

All the frantic questions Pride throws at Destiny go unanswered as Victor Stein lowers his blaster and the last Jedi falls to the ground. 

"What have you done?" Stacey screams. They had a method to their killing. It was a weak attempt at honor at best but a ritual is a ritual. Never had they just shot a target in the back. That's what the Gibborim troopers were for. 

With Destiny dead, panic sets in and Pride begins arguing in harsh whispers about the meaning of the prophecy and whether their child will be one of the two who will supposedly die bringing order to the galaxy. Order that they disrupted when they began following Jonah.

The arguments fade from Leslie’s ears as she retreats further into herself until someone roughly shakes her from her thoughts. Tina, of course.

“Have you heard this before?” Tina asks, genuine worry tainting her practiced tone of disdain.

Leslie tries to make her voice sound less afraid than she feels when she answers. She doesn’t think she succeeds.

“Yes. It’s what I’ve always feared.” She turns toward the group, tears beginning to form in her eyes making the robes blend together until all she sees is red, red, _red_.

“If what the Jedi said is true, that there are two out there who could defeat him, Jonah will…” She can’t finish. As if saying the words out loud would will them into being.

“He’ll kill them.” Leslie smiles bitterly. Tina is always there to do what she cannot, from wielding the power of the dark side to bluntly stating the truth.

“No. They’re just kids.” Dale can’t hide the tremble in his voice.

"Well they'll die anyway if they are the chosen ones." 

"Tina!" 

"This prophecy is a death sentence either way." Stacey says as she shrugs at Dale's look of betrayal. Leslie's never known Stacey to sound so defeated.

“You can’t be serious.” From his spot hovering over the Jedi’s dead body, Victor Stein shakes his head at the rest of them. Of course he wouldn’t believe. So much time spent in a lab that he has lost sight of power beyond that of blasters and cannons. Weapons that are nothing compared to the power of the Force. “Prophecies are just myths cooked up by desperate people. I never listened to them in the past and I won’t start today. Come Janet, we've done what we came here to do. It's time to go.”

“Victor--” Of all the members of Pride, Leslie feels she knows Janet the least. Always in Victor's shadow. There's spark there, Leslie can tell, but it's buried too deep to surface. 

“Now Janet.” With one look from her husband, Janet concedes. Her jaw clenches as she nods.

“Where are you going? We need to figure this out. Come up with a plan.” Catherine Wilder tries to block Victor, putting her small frame against his. Completely fearless. 

“Back home to Nemo. I have work to do. I suggest you all do the same. The work’s not finished.” With that, he pushes past Catherine and he and Janet walk briskly back to their ship.

No surprise that Victor would go back to Jonah. He has nothing to fear from the prophecy and Leslie envies him. His son, as tall and strong as he may be, hasn’t shown any signs of force sensitivity. 

“We should run.” Dale says as he paces. “Take our kids and run. We should’ve done that years ago when he killed Gene and Alice.”

“I agree. OL2, we're going back to --” Stacey’s command to her astromech droid is cut off by one word from Tina.

“Amy.”

As soon as the name falls from Tina’s lips everyone freezes. Leslie knows what Tina’s thinking now, what she’s just realized.

Amy. The talented Amy. Only ten years old but far more advanced than she should be for her age or so Jonah told Leslie once. Amy, who Jonah insisted train with him on Gibborim instead of with her mother. If Victor tells Jonah about the Jedi prophecy, any fondness he ever had for that girl will melt like the snow covering the Minoru’s home planet. He’s come this far, this close to eliminating the Jedi and the light. He won’t let her live if he thinks she’s one of the children Destiny spoke of and let’s face it, she must be. Who else could the child, so strong with the dark side, be?

Despite their differences, Leslie’s heart lurches for Tina in the moment. She wants to help her but something else keeps her rooted in place as the Minorus forgo goodbyes and rush toward their ship, no doubt headed for Jonah’s flagship, The Phantom.

Karolina.

Jonah doesn’t want anything to do with her since she has already proven to be, by his standards, a disappointment. At only seven, she is not the dark side prodigy he had believed she’d be.

She’s something else. Something he can’t see but Leslie can. She can _feel_ it, that force, not strong yet but growing everyday inside her. Karolina inherited none of her father’s darkness. Only light. Light Leslie always wished came from her but looking at Destiny’s blood on the floor, she knows she had nothing to do with her daughter’s gifts.

Now she only wishes that Karolina had no power at all. 

_One of light._

It may not be her, Leslie tells herself.

She watches as the ships take off.

The Steins, back to the Gibborim fleet. And Jonah. 

The Wilders, off to hide their son. Alex, like Chase, hasn’t shown signs of strength with force light or dark but they’ll take no chances, Leslie figures. She wouldn’t either. She won’t. (It may not be her, but it _might_ )

The Yorkes, off to hide their daughters. One theirs and one adopted. Still dangerous to have two children. Whether or not their daughters could be one or both of the prophesied children, Dale and Stacey always wanted an out from Pride and now they have one.

The Minorus, already traveling toward a battle they may have already lost. Tina. An apprentice forced to face her master.

She wishes them all luck but knows they don’t deserve it, not after everything they’ve done.

She is on a collision course with tragedy and she's not even surprised. She's seen this coming many times and ignored it. She saw it when Jonah had that look in his eye, the one that scared her. The one that made her consider whether her father was right when he told her that her path was one of great joy and even greater sorrow. The tragedy that the members of Pride face now is that they won’t answer for all sins they committed in name of money or power or legacy (or love).

The tragedy is that their children will.

She cannot stop fate but perhaps she can follow the example of the Wilders, Yorkes, and Minorus and try to delay it. 

She has to try. 

“Come Xavin.” She calls to her protocol droid.

“Yes, my queen.” 

As her ship leaves ground, she orders Xavin to chart them a course to the remote desert planet Ultra. 

"Where is she?" She asks her nursery droid as soon as she's left the cockpit. One of the few good things about Jonah's lack of interest in his daughter is that he does not cares much about her whereabouts. For better or for worse, Karolina's spent more time aboard this ship chasing down Jedi (not that she knows that) than she has on any planet. 

"The princess requested to sleep in your room, ma'am." 

She pauses outside her chambers. For the first time in her life, Leslie Dean feels unworthy of entering a room. It's a small act, opening a door, but in this moment all Leslie has the strength to do is rest her head on the door and listen to the sound of her daughter breathing. 

Her daughter, who has no idea what destiny may have in store for her. 

It may not be her.

But it might. 


	2. one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> karolina loves rocks a little too much, nico gets a job, and gert receives some bad news

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi folks, i'm back. 
> 
> did i stick to my outline? nope.  
> do i care? well a little bit yeah.  
> do i hope you'll enjoy this chapter? YES
> 
> happy reading!

“Karolina… Karolina!” 

Her mom’s calls echo down the canyon and she knows she should stop but she’s _almost_ got it. 

Her hands shake with effort and her eyebrows furrow as she pours all of her energy into lifting a tenth rock to the top of her perfectly balanced stack. 

Only she’s not even _touching_ the rock.

Somehow, she’s not sure how, she’s controlling the rock but that really doesn’t matter now. 

What matters is that she’s never gotten the stack this high before and she wants to keep going until it touches the clouds but her mom will totally murder her if she sees. 

_“Never do that again. Do you understand me?” Her mom’s hands had grasped her arms so tightly she thought the bruises would never fade._

Karolina had been nine the first time she tried to show her mom that she could lift her hair brush with her _mind_. The excitement of her mom finally seeing what she’d been practicing for weeks faded when her mom’s look of surprise morphed into one of anger and frustration. 

(and maybe fear but it was so long ago that she’s not sure)

After that Karolina thought it best to keep her mind lifting (for lack of a better term) to herself. 

She never stopped practicing though. She moved from her hair brush, to dinner plates, to Xavin’s spare parts, to finally the large rocks (boulders really) that reside in Suz Canyon. 

She’s pretty strong. No big deal. 

Except it is a _big_ deal. 

If only her mom would think so too. 

She’s almost got it. The tenth rock (...boulder) hovers over the ninth and all she has to do now is slowly lower it **—**

“Karolina! What are you **—** ”

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees her mom scrambling toward her, and that’s all it takes for Karolina to lose focus. Whatever connection she had with the rocks breaks and the tenth rock crashes down on top of the stack, sending them all tumbling down.

Karolina barely has a chance to shield her face before she hears a sickening crack.

The pain that follows keeps her planted on the ground and oh no her arm definitely shouldn’t look like that. She can vaguely hear her mom yelling but her vision is going spotty and all she wants to do now is close her eyes. 

The last thing she sees before losing consciousness is a ship falling from the sky.

**— — —**

She wakes to the sound of steady beeping. 

Her arm is wrapped in a bacta-pack and despite the pain she’s relieved that her bones won’t be broken for much longer. 

“Mom.” She rasps, looking around her room.

“Mistress Karolina. Thank the maker you are well.” Definitely not her mom. 

Xavin. Of course.

After the hair brush incident, her mom programmed Xavin to follow her everywhere, and admittedly she’s never made that task easy for the droid. Like earlier when she asked Xavin to get her thread from the closet and Karolina locked the door behind them. 

Not the nicest thing to do but come on. 

She’s eighteen after all. She does _not_ need a babysitter. 

What she needs is to get off this planet. 

Her mom told her she could apply to the pilot’s academy last year, only to change her mind two weeks before the application was due. 

She’d gone on and on about flying not being safe and that she needs her here and a bunch of other excuses that ultimately kept her grounded. 

But the thing is, all Karolina wants to do is fly. She remembers flying with her mom as a kid, before they settled on Ultra. She’d spent hours and hours in the cockpit, completely entranced by the stars. 

The best feeling in the world is the thrill that comes when a ship transitions to light speed. The jump happens in less than a second but Karolina’s held onto the memory of that feeling, carefully stretching it out into hours that she revisits to keep the loneliness at bay. 

How can you be lonely when you’re surrounded by stars?

Her mom says that she spends too much time with her head in the clouds but what else is supposed to do?

She’s stuck here. 

On Ultra. 

With nothing but rocks and Xavin to keep her company. 

Okay, she _knows_ she’s being dramatic but it’s just so boring here, especially since her mom won’t let her explore the city long enough for her to actually meet someone, let alone make friends. The only real interactions she has are once a month at market when she and her mom sell the robes and tunics they spend their days making. 

(when she’s not sneaking off to build magic rock towers)

It’s weird, the whole “mind lifting” thing, but she’d be lying if she said she didn’t enjoy it. 

It has to be a sign, right? A sign that she’s not meant to stay here. She may be a freak but she might not be the only one. What if there are other mind lifters out there?

(what if she didn’t have to be so alone?)

She could just leave. She’s thought about it. Of stealing her mom’s rusty old speeder and selling it for a ticket off this sand pit. It’s very tempting. 

But she _can’t_. 

She can’t leave her mom here alone. As much as they disagree, her mom is the only family she has left since her dad’s death. She doesn’t really remember him but apparently he was a pilot, he flew passenger freighters or something, not too exciting but still. He got to _fly_. 

Maybe that’s why Karolina likes the idea of flying so much.

Maybe she’s just like her dad. 

“Mistress Karolina **—** ” Xavin pulls her out of her daydreaming and back to the present where she’s stuck in a bed (and on Ultra).

“Xavin, we’ve talked about this.”

“If you are referring to how I address you, it will not change.”

Stubborn droid. It’s really not a big deal but she just hates how Xavin treats her like she’s someone important. She’s just Karolina. Not the Empress of Wizey. 

“I will alert Mistress Leslie that you are awake.” Of course they will. 

“Wait, no. Xavin, come back. Is she mad?” She calls after the droid but she thinks it’s even in Xavin’s programming to be afraid of her mom. 

The clicking of her mom’s impractical heeled boots sounds through the hallway and Karolina braces herself for a lecture. If it wasn’t for the bacta-pack keeping her in place, she would’ve snuck out the window already. 

Back to the canyon and her rocks. 

Wow, she really needs friends. 

“Karolina.” 

“Mom, hi. How’s your day **—** ” The glare she gives Karolina traps the words in her throat so suddenly that she chokes on her own saliva. 

So no small talk then. Got it. 

Once her coughing fit subsides, her mom opens her mouth to speak but Xavin pops their head in the doorway. 

“Mistress Leslie, her healing is nearly complete. By my calculations, her left arm will be fully functional in one hour and 37 minutes.” Oh Xavin and their complete inability to read a room.

She loves that droid even if they are an overly formal tattletale. 

“Xavin, could you give us a moment alone?” 

“As you command.” 

Xavin leaves the room but Karolina would bet anything that they’re hovering just two inches outside the door. 

Her mom approaches the bed like she’s going to sit down next to her but seems to think better of it and she settles for standing at the foot of the bed. 

Karolina sighs because yes, she’s eighteen and doesn’t need a babysitter but sometimes she _needs_ her mom. 

“Mom, I’m **—** ” She tries but Leslie doesn’t let her finish. 

“Do you have any idea how dangerous what you were doing is?” She’s using the same tone she did all those years ago but Karolina’s not nine anymore. This time she doesn’t flinch. 

“Well no actually, because you refuse to talk to me about it.” Leslie gapes at her, eyes wide. 

She’s never spoken to her mom like that in her life but maybe all the sand and sun are starting to get to her head.

(or maybe her mom’s refusal to tell her what’s going on with her, because “mind lifting” definitely isn’t the proper term, hurts more than she realized)

(or maybe she’s finally ready for a change)

Silence falls over them. 

Her mom seems to be weighing her options, turning each word over in her head before she speaks. 

“I can’t talk about this with you.” Is what she settles on. A disappointing answer but not unexpected considering the nine years of skillfully avoiding this exact conversation. 

“Please try mom. I don’t know what’s going on. I can do… things. Things I can’t explain but you seem to know all about. I just want to know what’s happening to me.” It’s as honest and vulnerable as she’s ever been with her mom and she thinks, looking at her mom, that their expressions mirror each other because Karolina can see all the emotions she feels filter through mom’s face. 

Frustration. Worry. Concern… 

Fear (she’s certain this time)

Love (she’s less certain but hopeful)

“Karolina, I know you’re confused. You are… different. And I wish…” She trails off, wistful almost. Whatever she might have said dissolves on her tongue and the openness of a couple of seconds ago shifts into the stern expression Karolina’s so used to. 

“You just have to trust me when I tell you that you cannot do things like you did at the canyon this morning. Ever. If the wrong people see you **—** ” 

“What wrong people? What are you talking about?” 

“I’m trying to keep you safe.” 

Ultra’s not exactly a safe haven but… 

She’s heard whispers at market. Horror stories of Gibborim and the Magistrate. That can’t be what she means, right?

“Safe from what?” 

“I’m done talking about this.” There’s a finality in her tone and Karolina knows she’s lost. 

Once the door slams closed behind Leslie, Karolina lets out a frustrated scream, eyes scrunched closed to keep hot tears from falling. The disappointment of being the closest she’s ever been to answers only to come up empty pulses in her veins. 

She’s so angry that her spiked heart rate is causing the bacta monitor to sound like one long continuous beep. 

Take a breath, she tells herself.

Now another. 

The darkness behind her closed eyes becomes lighter and she can feel the anger retreating from her fists as she unclenches them. 

Take a breath.

Now another. 

But when she finally is calm enough to open her eyes, she stops breathing all together.

Her bed is floating. 

Well, not just her bed. Everything in her room. The bacta monitor, her dresser, her hair brush (but that doesn’t feel very impressive anymore). 

Everything is floating. 

Part of her wants to panic. Call for help. Call her for her mom, Xavin, anyone. 

But another part of her tells her to stay relaxed. To keep doing what she’s been doing. To keep breathing. 

She listens to that part. 

As she exhales, she focuses all her energy on the ground and slowly the bed finds the floor again. 

She can’t help but smile as she looks at her hands. There’s energy crackling under her skin, pent up for years, that now wants to break out. To be unleashed. 

If she thought she was strong this morning, well she feels _super_ strong now. 

She needs to find another mind lifter and fast. 

But how? 

She doesn’t even know where to start looking. 

Maybe it’s finally time to go through with her runaway plan. 

If her mom won’t give her answers, she’ll find them herself. 

  
  


* * *

Nico closes her eyes and welcomes the familiar darkness. 

_Amy._

_Amy._

_I summon you._

_I summon you to emerge from night’s shadow into the light._

_Amy._

Nico tries to remain patient. To keep breathing and all that crap. 

But the thing is, she’s never been one for patience.

Irritability, yes.

Frustration, yes.

Anger, hell yes. 

But patience? No way. 

_Amy. Please. I summon you to emerge from night’s shadow into the light._

The seconds tick by and Nico feels nothing. 

She’s waiting in a dark cave, with only her own voice echoing off the walls. Nothing calling back to her. 

Her frustration flares and the darkness that began as comforting now feels stifling. 

She debates reciting the words one more time. 

But she knows, deep down, she knows. 

It didn’t work. Again. 

The anger that had begun swelling in her chest finally makes its way up her throat until she can’t hold it in anymore. 

“AMY.” She yells, opening her eyes. 

The moment is lost. 

The cave is gone and she’s back in her room. 

From her spot, meditating a few feet off the ground, she collapses. 

Alex’s tablet breaks her fall and she hopes it’s not cracked and yup it’s definitely cracked. 

He’s going to be so pissed. 

“Nico?” 

And she woke him up. Great. This morning just couldn’t be better. 

“Nico, are you okay?” He’s in her room and guiding her to her feet in a flash. “What were you… is that my tablet?” 

“I’m sorry.” She offers, not entirely genuinely. It’s too early. 

“It’s okay. It’s just a tablet.” He shrugs. “You were trying again, weren’t you?” 

“So what if I was?” She doesn’t know why she’s being so combative. Alex has never been anything but supportive but her frustration needs an outlet and he just happens to be there. 

“Hey Nico, you said it was dangerous for you to open yourself up to the force. What if your mom felt it? What if she can track us now?” 

“It was only like five minutes. Besides, you don’t understand what it’s like. It’s not like a switch I can just turn off. Being closed off like this, I feel like I’m only half awake.” _Like I’m sleepwalking through my life,_ she doesn’t say. 

Alex looks so guilty and it’s not even his fault. “Nico, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” 

At that Nico deflates. The anger that was keeping her upright calms, leaving her standing on wobbly legs. She sits back down on the floor. 

“It’s okay. I didn’t tell you.” 

Alex hesitates before sitting beside her. She knows what he’s going to ask her. His curiosity always wins out. 

“Did it… work?” 

“No, and I don’t think it ever will. From what I read in the Abstract, it takes a very powerful force user to transfer their energy in death. Amy was really strong but she was only ten so…” 

She doesn’t finish and Alex doesn’t press. He puts an arm around her shoulder. It’s supposed to be comforting but doesn’t make Nico feel any better. 

But Nico’s not even sure if anything can make her feel better. 

Words and gestures can’t change the fact that her sister was murdered. Can’t take away the fact that Nico would do anything, anything at all, just to be able to talk to her one more time. 

She doesn’t remember much from her childhood but all of her best memories are full of her older sister. The day Amy left for Gibborim, was one of the worst days of her life.

(but not as bad as the day her parents told her Amy was dead)

(or the day she discovered that the red lightsaber she would watch her mother practice with for hours was used to murder _good_ people) 

Sometimes she wonders if Amy would have become just like their mother. 

If she had gotten to live. 

No.

_No._

She wouldn’t have.

Nico knew her sister. Amy would be just as disgusted with her parents as Nico is if she was alive. 

If only Amy could answer her, help Nico understand what happened. Why the Magistrate was so threatened by a ten year old?

He was the most powerful entity in the galaxy. _Is_ the most powerful.

Her mother might have thought she held that title after she defeated him… 

After Amy. 

But even the mighty Tina Minoru couldn’t stop him from returning fully healed three years ago. 

Why would someone so strong with the force that they can’t even die, be scared of a child? 

This question has haunted Nico ever since she uncovered the truth about her parents and Pride and that lightsaber over a year ago.

The lightsaber that she stole along with the Sith Abstract before she ran from Wizey. 

Sometimes she misses the snowy mountains of her home but she’s starting to like the life of a nomad. 

She'd met Alex, or really caught him, when he was hacking into her parents’ archives. He was looking for information about the other members of Pride.

But it turns out the rest of Pride went fully off the grid so it was just the two of them alone in this mess so they decided to get away from their parents together.

Which sounds nice but with no money, friends, or resources they quickly were thrust somewhere they never thought they’d be considering the wealth and privilege they come from:

The job market. 

It’s not easy these days considering the Magistrate’s tendency to unleash his troops of doom and gloom on every star system he can. 

But what they did find suited them both pretty well, what with Alex’s brains and Nico’s slight tendency toward aggression.

_Bounty hunting._

It’s a bit of a complicated profession but it pays well so Nico’s not complaining. 

She knows Alex sees this as a means to an end. That one day he’d like to see his parents locked away in some intergalactic prison. 

And she gets it because she wants answers and justice and all that but mostly she wants to be distracted and what’s more distracting than chasing a bail jumping twi’lek through a crowded cantina? 

Not much. 

The downside of being a bounty hunter is the waiting. For the past week, she and Alex have drifted through systems, hoping the guild will reach out to them about a job. 

It’s the longest they’ve gone without a job in awhile and Nico’s starting to go stir crazy, hence the misguided attempt to communicate with her dead sister. 

Fuck. 

She’s so fucked up. 

And angry about it. 

Her parents always knew she was force sensitive. Not as strong as Amy, of course. That’s why Amy got chosen to train and Nico didn’t. That’s why Amy got to leave home and Nico’s whole existence had to be hidden from the world. 

The Rule of Two. 

There could only ever be one master and one apprentice. 

That was the Sith way.

The Magistrate was the master. Amy was technically her mom’s apprentice even though the Magistrate insisted on being a part of her training. Bending the rules when it suited him.

Even after Amy’s death, when Nico still thought her mother was the good guy, Tina refused to teach Nico anything about the force.

Too scared of something. 

Nico just can’t figure out what. 

But she will. 

As the forgotten second child, Nico’s always been independent. When there’s a problem, she finds a solution. No teacher? Fine, she’ll teach herself. She spends so much time pouring over the Abstract, she basically sleeps with it. 

She initially just wanted the old book to research pathways to the dead but every now and then she’ll read something about channeling anger into force energy. 

That has to be a good thing, right? 

She has so much anger, so much that it doesn’t all fit inside her body and it needs a place to go. And it's felt so... natural, so easy, the few times she's let her anger flow through her.

And yeah, she gets how too much anger could eventually lead a person down a path of uncontrollable violence, but Nico thinks there _has_ to be a way to use darkness without succumbing to it. 

She won’t touch the lightsaber though. 

It sits, locked away in a trunk in Nico’s quarters. 

Waiting. 

Sure every once in a while, she thinks about what it would be like to… 

But surely she couldn’t use something that has caused so much pain? 

No. 

_No._

Distraction. 

“Heard anything from the guild?” 

“Nope.” Alex says, still inspecting his broken tablet. Shit, she’s going to have to buy him a new one isn’t she? 

She’s in the middle of mentally calculating how many credits she’s willing to spend on a freaking tablet when their main control panel beeps and a hologram buzzes to life in front of them. 

It’s Darius. The sort of sleazy, sort of awesome leader of the bounty hunters guild. 

“How are my two favorite rich kids?” 

What an asshole. 

“Seriously D? How rich could we be if we’re working for you?” Alex snaps.

“Let’s just say I’m good at reading people.” Really good apparently. 

“Whatever. Got a job for us?” Nico says, interrupting whatever comeback Alex had ready.

“Got word about a droid. A green OL unit. Somebody wants that thing real bad.” That means big money. Which unfortunately always leads back to Gibborim. 

“Who wants it?” Alex asks, probably coming to the same realization she just did. 

“Still asking questions. Do you want the job or not?” 

Normally Nico would say no but something, a feeling, washes over her and she _knows_ she has to take this job. 

Turns out Alex is not experiencing the same feeling. 

“I think we’ll pass **—** ”

“Alex, wait” Alex looks at her, brows raised. They never did this. Took a job that one of them didn’t want. Since they decided to stay together, they’ve always been united.

“Trust me.” He searches her face as if he was looking at an algorithm he just can’t figure out. After a few moments of tense silence, he relents. 

(even though, judging by the heaviness in his eyes, he didn’t solve her)

(nico doesn't think she wants him to)

“We’re in. Last sighting?” 

“Ultra.” 

“That dump? Really?” Alex scoffs, and seriously why would her gut want her to go to some in-the-middle-of-fucking-nowhere desert? 

“That’s what I said. Call if you find it. The Client wants the droid in one piece so don’t go getting all trigger happy again.”

“Hey I never **—** ”

“Wasn’t talking to you, brain.” Darius looks from Alex to Nico. “It’s little Miss Sunshine over there that I’m worried about.” 

“That was one time.” Nico frowns petulantly. She may have gotten a little over excited about tracking a reprogrammed VN unit. So what? “And that’s _when_ we find the droid, not if.” 

Darius laughs. “And that is why you two were my first call.”

With that he disappears and Nico is left in a room crowded with Alex and his suspicions. 

“You really want to do this? This is a Gibb job and you know it.”

“I know. I just have a feeling… I have to do this, Alex.” She knows she’s not explaining herself well at all but she doesn’t know how to put this feeling into words. 

It’s like everything in her is telling her to go Ultra. 

But for a droid?

There had to be something else. 

But what?

“Oh yeah? I’ve got a feeling about this too. A bad one.” 

“Alex **—** ” She stops when he smiles. 

“I’m just messing with you. Looks like we’re headed to Ultra.” Alex says as he sits in the pilot’s seat, already plugging in coordinates to Aura Outpost. 

Neither of them are _really_ pilots but he’s infinitely better out of the two of them. She feels more at home in the gunner’s seat but it’s not exactly acceptable to sit there during standard, non-combat fueled travel so she sighs as she sits in the rarely used co-pilot’s seat. 

Flying isn’t her favorite but she does like one part. 

“Ready to jump to lightspeed?”

“Born ready.” She says with the first genuine smile she’s sported for weeks. 

Her stomach flips in anticipation as Alex pushes the lever forward and Nico watches as the stars blend together.

Never gets old. 

As they speed off toward their destination, she hopes that whatever waits for her in Ultra is ready. 

She isn’t far now. 

* * *

The wind whips her purple hair loose from the braid Molly worked so hard on this morning. Her hair is too short but Molly had insisted, her enthusiasm clearly a poorly veiled attempt at distraction and Gert loves her sister all the more for trying. 

If only it had worked. 

If only she hadn’t spent every minute of the last twenty-four hours thinking about him. 

Where he is. What he’s doing. How he’s doing. And most importantly, why he isn’t back to base yet? 

She knows she should go back inside, she’s been out here too long. 

There are monitors she could be checking but she just needs a few more seconds of solitude to focus on her breathing, to ease the anxiety out of her tone (and her chest). 

She knows Molly will hear it anyway. 

A simple mission. That’s what he’d pitched it as. Too bad this is anything but simple. 

She’d agreed to send him to meet with his mother. His _mother_ , who happened to be knee deep in the Magistrate’s bullshit. Or maybe not knee deep. Not anymore. Maybe just ankle deep. 

Regardless, totally _not_ simple. 

Janet had promised information about the weapon. The weapon Chase had overheard his father talking about. 

The planet killer. 

(sounds awesome and not scary at all)

And Chase jumped, maybe a little too quickly, at the opportunity to see his mom again. Gert knew how much he missed her. How much he regrets that in order to run from his father, he had to leave her too.

She understands. She misses her parents too, not that she’d ever say that out loud. 

But for Chase it’s deeper, she thinks. She’s only known him for a few months but she can tell that he still clings to the hope that underneath all lies and murder and general evilness, their parents still worthy of redemption. 

She doubts it but she’d let him hope. 

And now maybe he’s rotting in a cell on the Magistrate's ship. Or worse, he wanted to go back and he is rejoining the Gibborim ranks at this very moment while Gert stands in the cold, worrying about his safety. 

She swears she’ll kill him if that’s the case. She hopes it isn’t. 

Hope. 

It’s dangerous these days. 

The Magistrate made sure of that. For the past three years or so, he’s moved from planet to planet. Stealing just resources if you’re lucky, resources _and_ people if you weren’t. Always on the move, he seems to be looking for something but for all her time in front of monitors, Gert just can’t figure out what.

He has an army, thanks to his home planet Gibborim. 

He has weapons, thanks to Chase’s father. 

And he’s a Sith Lord so he’s pretty good at the whole murder and general evilness thing. 

What else could he want?

Gert’s made it her mission to find out. 

Find out what the Magistrate is after and destroy it before he can ruin her new home. 

When she and Molly ran from their parents, they found a sanctuary on the windy coast of La Brea. While the wind here took some getting used to compared to the tropical jungles of Deinon, she wouldn’t change anything. She’s a part of something now. 

The resistance. 

A band of runaways from different parts of the galaxy. All determined to bring an end to the Magistrate and his dark forces. 

Everyone here has a story, whether The Magistrate invaded their home planet or his troopers killed a family member or a friend. This fight is personal. 

But the thing is, it’s beyond just personal for her. And Molly. 

And Chase. 

They feel a responsibility. A debt.

Since their parents are part of the reason the Magistrate rose to power in the first place. She doesn’t know everything but what she pieced together from the archives of their OL unit is that years ago her parents were involved in the destruction of the Jedi. 

And maybe other stuff too. 

There’s still more in the droid’s memory processor but it’s encrypted she can’t access the rest of the data. 

Oh OL2. 

Old Lace, as she’s taken to calling the droid. If there was one lesson from Dale and Stacey that will stay with Gert forever, it’s that you should never underestimate a droid. 

They can think and feel beyond their programing and they deserve names, not numbers. 

And now Old Lace is gone too. Gert sent her with Chase and now they’re both missing. 

Stellar leadership there, _Gertrude_. 

Gert’s about two parsecs away from hopping into her X-Wing and chasing after that stupid nerfherding boy with perfect hair and perfect **—**

“Gert.” 

Her sister puts a warm hand on Gert’s shoulder but Gert doesn’t want to turn and face her yet. Molly’s tone reeked of bad news and Gert would just rather not hear it. 

“Gert. We know where the Leapfrog is.”

What a stupid name for a ship that’s basically an X-Wing with a few “special modifications.” Gert wishes Chase were here so she could tell him that. She knows he’d just laugh and say she’s just jealous. Gert smiles at that thought until something in Molly’s wording pricks at her skin. 

“Just the Leapfrog?” Molly’s lack of a response tells Gert everything. 

“Where?”

“Ultra.” 

Ultra, that depressing desert planet that’s half scavengers, half illegal activity and 100% sand. It’s not far from where Chase was supposed to meet Janet but how did he end up there? 

“No sign of him?”

“No, the probe droid’s scans couldn’t find any trace of Chase.” Molly bites her lip.

“Why do I feel like you have more bad news?”

“Hey listen, it might not be bad. We just intercepted a transmission from Gibborim. It was sent to the guild. There’s a big reward for whoever can find a green OL unit. Which means **—** ”

“They don’t have her. Oh my God they don’t have her.” 

Gert throws her arms around her (big) little sister. Chase may have been captured but the mission could still be a success.

There’s still hope. 

Old Lace is out there with whatever information Janet gave Chase.

She just has to get her droid before the Gibborim troopers can. 

And then Chase. 

Once she finds Old Lace, she can rescue Chase and it’ll all be okay. 

God, she hopes he’s okay.

She hopes she’s not a fool for hoping. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy exposition... i pinky promise there'll be more action next time
> 
> also i realize now that i may have made the timeline a little more complicated than it needed to be... oh well, can't go back now so here's a cheatsheet just in case you were confused.
> 
> feel free to ignore if you think you've got it!
> 
> Prologue: 11 years ago — Runaways are 7 (Amy is 10)  
> \--Prophecy is revealed, Pride disbands  
> \--Tina thinks she defeated Jonah (awkward)  
> \--the kids have normal(ish) childhoods until…  
> 3 years ago — Runaways are 15  
> \--Jonah returns, stronger than ever, and picks right back up where he left off being evil  
> \--parents (minus Victor) start acting suspiciously because ahhhh jonah's back and last he remembers they betrayed him but really he has bigger things to worry about  
> 1 year (ish) ago — Runaways are 17  
> \--Nico and Alex meet because of hacking  
> \--Gert and Molly learn that Dale and Stacey are more than just droid rights activists  
> \--Chase learns that his super shady dad is well...super shady  
> \--And finally, Karolina starts building rock towers in the desert  
> Chapter 1: Present day — Runaways are 18  
> \--Nico and Alex are now bounty hunters (because i LOVE the mandalorian)  
> \--Gert and Molly are part of the resistance (Chase recently joined)  
> \--And Karolina is still building rock towers... (homegirl's a bit slow on the uptake but she'll get there)


	3. two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> gert arrives on ultra, nico has some communication trouble, and karolina didn't think making friends would be so complicated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't know why i bother with outlines if i NEVER follow them. anyway, hope you enjoy a certain meetup...

Nico’s been on Ultra for five minutes and she already hates it. 

The sun’s beating down on her like it’s trying to make up for all the weeks she spent trapped in the cool recycled air that filters through her ship. 

She’s sweating through her black leather jacket.

(and matching black pants, boots, and sun scarf)

At least her shirt’s not black too. 

Well, it’s grey but whatever.

It’s freaking hot out here. 

She and Alex had landed not far from the crashed X-Wing Darius told them about. The pilot’s gone but judging by the blood splattered in the cockpit, they couldn’t have made it far. Especially not in this heat. 

Judging by the damage to the right wing, this ship was shot down so the heat was probably the least of the pilot’s worries. 

This job is getting more complicated by the minute. 

She’s supposed to be looking for tracks but the chances of finding any in the constantly shifting sand are exactly zero so she’s mostly just standing around and questioning her life choices. 

“Whoa. Check this out, Nico.” She walks around to where Alex is inspecting something on the back of the X-Wing. “Looks like whoever’s T-70 this is added a temporary turbo impeller on the tail to boost the hyperdrive.” 

“I understood three of those words.” And Nico wishes she was being dramatic. 

“It just means that this X-Wing could go really _really_ fast. Anyway I think Darius gave us this mission as a prank. There’s no way we’re going to find the droid out here. It could be anywhere.” Alex frowns, raising his macrobinoculars. 

He’s right. The droid could be anywhere. 

Nothing but sand and rocks for miles. 

Shit. 

Nico doesn’t even know what she’ll do if they find it. Give the droid to Darius and take Gibb money? 

She couldn’t do that. 

So they find the droid and then what? Keep it and have Gibb troopers on their asses forever? 

This is why feelings suck and she just shouldn’t listen to them or _do_ them in general. 

She followed this stupid feeling into a no win situation, ignoring all of her anti-force discipline of the last year and possibly putting Alex in danger, and now she might die in the desert of heat stroke.

Nico honestly can’t think of a worse way to go. 

She’s about to tell Alex they should just pack it up and tell Darius they couldn’t find the droid when she feels it again. 

The pull. 

It’s like she’s connected to an invisible rope and she can’t help but follow where it leads. And it seems this rope is leading her right down to the bottom of a canyon. 

Yeah, she should really stop listening to her feelings. 

“Alex, I’m going to check down there.” 

“Nico, wait **—** ”

“Just stay here and check the scanners. It’s probably nothing but I’ve got a **—** ”

“A feeling? I’ve heard that before.” Alex smirks. 

“Whatever.” She says, knocking his binoculars out of his hands as she passes him.

“See ya nerd.” 

She pulls her scarf over her head and takes a deep breath before peaking over the edge of the cliff. It’s a long way down. 

_I can do this_ , she repeats in her head until the phrase flows loudly enough to drown out her other less positive thoughts. 

_I can do this. I can do this. I can do this._

The climb is tough and if she uses some help from the force, well Alex never has to know. 

By the time she gets to the bottom, sweaty does not even begin to describe her body right now. 

Why does black have to suit her aesthetic so well? 

After wiping as much sweat as she can from her forehead and neck, she finally looks around at her surroundings. 

The towering walls of the canyon are so fluid and curvy that they remind Nico more of waves than rocks. Everything had just looked brown from the top but down here, Nico sees that the rocks are a blend of orange, and red, and even gold. 

Nico never expected to find anything so beautiful in a place like this. 

She’s so transfixed that she barely hears it. 

A voice. 

“You’re a long way from home, aren’t you?” The voice asks and Nico’s struck by how true that statement is.

But as she turns toward the voice she realizes that the question was not meant for her. 

Maybe forty feet away, a girl with her back to Nico crouches down and reaches out her arm. She’s clearly trying to coax something toward her but Nico can’t see what it is, her view obstructed by a boulder. 

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you.” The girl tries again, inching closer to whatever she’s talking to just as Nico takes another step toward her. 

Something in the way the girl says it makes Nico believe her. Trust her. Which is crazy because _all_ she’s learned from this galaxy is that people only care about themselves. 

Why would this girl be any different?

As Nico takes another step, she draws her blaster from her holster and pointedly ignores the feeling in her chest that she doesn’t need it. 

“Hey, that’s it. You’re doing so well. Just a little bit farther.” 

And Nico freezes. 

The droid. 

From its hiding spot behind the boulder, the green OL unit comes out and bumps, almost playfully, into the girl’s outstretched hand. 

“Hi, I’m Karolina. What’s your name?” The girl says completely seriously, as if she were meeting the Queen of Ultra and not a sand covered droid that’s seen better days to put it mildly. 

Does Ultra even have a queen? Or a government of any kind?

The droid beeps in response and Nico wishes she had taken her dad’s language lessons more seriously. If she had, she’d be able to understand what that thing just said but instead all she has is an intense knowledge of how to twirl a stick like a lightsaber and zero communication skills, droid or human. 

Helpful.

“Look behind you? What do you **—** ” The girl, Karolina, gasps when she sees Nico, blaster still raised, and the droid ducks behind the girl’s legs. 

What a little shit. 

Nico looks up from the droid and instantly wishes she hadn’t. 

Her breath catches and her cheeks feel like they’re on fire and there’s absolutely no chance she’s going to stop sweating now. 

This girl is _beautiful_. 

She’s tall, definitely taller than Nico. Her hair is in a long braid that falls over her shoulder and she’s actually dressed for the desert climate with protective bindings on her arms for the sun and a white sleeveless shirt that shows just the smallest sliver of skin where the shirt meets her pants. 

Nico _really_ doesn’t want to think about that now so her eyes travel up to the girl’s face. 

They’re probably around the same age but something about her makes the girl seem younger. 

(less heavy)

(lighter) 

But there’s a storm growing behind her blue eyes, all clouds and questions. 

She looks… scared. Why does she look… 

Oh, probably because Nico still has a blaster pointed at her. 

“What do you want?” The girl, Karolina asks, standing tall even though her voice shakes slightly. 

“I’m not going to hurt you.” She tries parroting the girl’s words back to her, which can’t be all that convincing with her blaster still out. 

“Says the person holding a blaster.” 

And yeah shocker, she wasn’t convinced. 

“Give me the droid and I’ll put it away.” She goes for honesty this time. 

Karolina looks at the droid. The droid beeps again and Nico is really starting to hate that thing. First thing she’s going to do when she gets it is find the off switch. 

“That’s not going to happen.” 

Nico sighs. 

This is not how she thought today was going to go. She was ready for rival bounty hunters or even petty scavengers, but not some unarmed princess of the desert who’s looking at Nico with such… openness?

Her face is so uninhibited that Nico can see everything she’s feeling. She can see her fear, her uncertainty, her stubbornness, her determination. All of it. 

And it unnerves Nico.

One of the few lessons Tina Minoru ever gave her was that the only way to hold the upper hand is to show your opponent nothing. 

But right now that couldn’t be further from true because she’s the one with the blaster but this girl is _winning_ … whatever it is that’s happening between them. 

She just knows Karolina would fight tooth and nail for this droid she seems to have just met. 

Which just doesn’t make sense. 

_Nothing_ about this girl makes sense. 

Without breaking eye contact, Nico lifts one hand from her blaster and holsters it with the other. 

“I’m not here to hurt the droid. Or you.” And just like that, Nico folds to someone she could’ve taken out with one lethal shot to the heart. 

If only Tina could see her now, she’d be so disappointed.

_Good._

Karolina lets out a shaky breath, shoulders relaxing slightly. 

Nico takes that as a sign to take a step closer. 

Wrong move, apparently. 

This girl hasn’t met many bounty hunters, clearly. If she had, she’d know that pointing a blaster at someone’s face is how most friendships start. 

But instead, Karolina’s shoulders shoot back up and she raises her hand as if she was going to attack but she has no weapon.

“Stay there.” 

“Look, we don’t have much time. Pretty soon this canyon is going to be crawling with bounty hunters looking for that droid. And they might not be as willing to talk as I am.” 

The girl seems to consider this. 

She doesn’t drop her hand though. 

Nico really doesn’t have time for this and she takes another step forward and then another. 

“Wait. Stop.” The girl yells, frantically looking between Nico and the droid.

But that feeling is back, tugging her forward and she just _can’t_ stop. 

Until she has to. 

A sudden tremor shakes the ground, knocking Nico onto her knees and the massive boulder behind Karolina begins floating until it hovers around shoulder height and **—**

Shit. 

She’s like her. 

Besides her mother and Amy, she’s never met anyone like her before. 

(and so much for bounty hunting being a distraction from thinking about Amy)

(Nico should be mad)

(but she’s not)

For the first time today, things are starting to make sense. She can see the puzzle pieces clicking into place before her eyes. 

This feeling, this pull in her chest. It can’t have been about the droid. 

Not when she’s _like_ her. 

Karolina doesn’t give her enough time to process this news though because the boulder is now moving toward Nico. 

From what she knows about Karolina so far, which admittedly isn't a whole lot, it checks out that she would try to threaten Nico with a _very_ slow moving boulder. 

Yeah, good luck with that, princess. 

(God, this girl wouldn’t last two seconds in a Brentwood cantina. They’d eat her alive.)

Nico jumps to her feet. Ever since she opened herself back up to the force, she’s felt that welcome surge of power flowing through her body and all she has to do now is concentrate all of it at the boulder. 

With her brows knitted and teeth clenched, she throws her arm forward, pushing the boulder back toward Karolina. 

Karolina’s eyes widen at the sudden resistance but her shock doesn’t last long. The swirling clouds in her eyes vanish and in their place comes a look of complete resolve.

Now it’s Nico who feels the resistance. So much so that she has to take a step back. 

This girl is _strong_. 

But not stronger. 

The boulder moves between the two of them, neither giving up. 

They're stuck in a deadlock and as much as Nico tries to keep her focus on the boulder her thoughts drift away.

Her mother's voice ripples through her. 

How Tina always thought Nico was weak, weaker than her. Weaker than Amy. 

Anger pulses through her lungs and she needs the voice to stop. Nico shoots her other arm up with a scream, sending the boulder flying into the canyon wall. Pieces of the boulder scatter and collide with the ground. Nico ducks for cover but a shard slashes her right bicep. 

Instinct has her up and wrapping her bloody arm with a ripped piece of her scarf as quickly as she can but then it hits her. What she’s just done. 

Oh God. 

Karolina. 

Nico hadn’t meant to throw the boulder so hard. 

But before she can check on her, the sunlight disappears and she’s covered by a long shadow, offering her welcome relief from the heat. 

She looks up and there Karolina is, hovering over her, sun peeking around her head so that she’s practically glowing. 

There’s worry stretched across her face as Karolina reaches out to her but hesitates before actually touching Nico. 

“Are you… are you okay?” 

“Yeah. I’m fine. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…” Nico trails off, looking away. She’s not sure what to even call what happened. 

She’s just met someone like her and she’s already almost hurt her. 

“No. It’s okay. It was amazing actually.” At that Nico lifts her head up just in time to catch Karolina’s lips curl up into the brightest smile she’s ever seen. 

“You… You’re like...” 

“Yeah.” Nico can’t help but smile too. “I am.” 

This time Karolina doesn’t hesitate when she reaches out for Nico and Nico allows herself to be pulled off the ground. 

“I can’t believe it. I was just about to leave Ultra. To find someone like you. Like me. I’m Karolina.” The way she’s practically bouncing with energy as she talks would normally make Nico roll her eyes but the giddiness suits Karolina so well that Nico can’t find it in her to be annoyed. 

“I know.”

Karolina’s eyebrows shoot up.

“Really? Is that like a “mind lifter” thing? You can tell people’s names and--” 

And great, looks like desert princess here understands even less about the force than Nico does. 

“No, you said it earlier… Wait. Did you just say “mind lifter?” Nico tries keeping her tone light but Karolina blushes deeply and looks at her feet. 

Great job, asshole. Not everyone grew up with a Sith Lord for a mom.

“Sorry. I don’t know what else to call it.” 

“No, no. I’m sorry. Mind lifter works. Really. I like it.” And now that she thinks about it, “mind lifter” _is_ more straightforward than “force sensitive” but terminology aside, what’s important here is that Karolina is looking at her again.

“So what do you call it?” 

“Well according to **—”** The freaking droid doesn’t wait for her to finish before stealing Karolina’s attention with some increasingly high pitched beeps. And yeah, Nico’s negative feelings about that thing are still negative. 

“No, it’s okay. She’s not going to hurt you, right… um sorry I don’t know your name?”

“Nico. My name’s Nico.” 

“Nico.” Karolina repeats back.

The droid beeps again but Nico’s distracted by way Karolina smiled when she said her name. 

She looks away her under the guise of wiping some dust off of her jacket. 

But as her hand trails over her chest, she realizes that the pull that had wrapped her chest in nervous energy ever since Darius mentioned Ultra, has stopped. Or at least relaxed. 

(Nico adds that to the list of things she doesn’t want to think about right now)

(this list is growing more extensive by the second) 

She’s about to ask Karolina about what the droid said or beeped or whatever when Karolina screams. 

“Nico, get down!” 

Nico barely has time to react before a blaster shot wizzes by her head. 

She turns around just in time to avoid another. 

AWOL. 

He’s found them. 

Shit. 

Nico should’ve known he’d be after the droid too. With a reward that big, she can’t really blame him. 

AWOL is her and Alex’s biggest competition. Not a nice guy. Used to work with a Mon Calamari pilot named Flores but Darius had not so subtly implied that AWOL killed him and stole his credits after their last job. 

He's highly trained and ruthless. 

And currently charging right at them with not one but two blasters raised. 

She’s reaching for her own blaster when her hand finds something else. 

Karolina’s. 

Karolina locks their hands together and she pulls Nico away from the oncoming blaster fire. 

“What are you doing?” She screams at Karolina as they run from the bounty hunter. She tugs against Karolina, trying to free her hand so she can fire back at AWOL but wow Karolina really is strong.

“I know a way out of here. Do you trust me?” 

She’s known Karolina for ten minutes and Nico can already tell she’s going to drive her _crazy_. 

(in more ways than one) 

But she trusts her. 

She can’t explain it and she knows it doesn’t make sense but she does. She just does. 

So why not listen to her feelings one more time today? 

What’s the worst that could happen?

“Yes.” She nods. “I trust you.” 

And they run. 

  
  


* * *

Meeting Nico has to be the biggest thing that’s happened to Karolina since she discovered the whole mind lifting thing. 

(she should really stop calling it that because that is definitely _not_ what it is called) 

This morning, when Karolina decided to visit the canyon one last time before leaving Ultra, she thought she’d have a nice walk through her favorite place, maybe lift a couple rocks for old times’ sake. 

Finding a lost astromech droid would’ve been a lot for her period. 

But also meeting someone like her. 

Someone like Nico.

Someone who made Karolina’s heart literally stop beating.

Well Karolina really hasn’t had to time process how crazy this all is.

And in regards to the whole “heart stopping” thing, there are a few specific and very valid reasons for that reaction.

**One** , Nico had been pointing a blaster directly at her.

**Two** , Nico happens to be really _really_ pretty. 

(like Karolina thought Julie **—** the bartender from the cantina she snuck into one time before her mom caught her **—** was pretty and she still is but _this_ girl, well she made karolina’s heart stop so that has to be a whole other level of pretty) 

**Three** , really just the fact that reasons one and two were happening at the same time. It was a lot for her heart.

In the end, the feeling in her chest that Nico wasn’t going to fire the blaster outweighed her fear that she would. 

And she was right. 

Nico didn’t. 

And now they’re here. 

Running from another person holding a blaster, except this person is _not_ Nico and has no issue firing his weapons at them. 

It’s an understatement to say that it’s been an emotional twenty minutes for Karolina. 

“Come one Old Lace!” She calls behind her at the droid. Weird name but Karolina really doesn’t have time for that backstory right now. 

“Where are we going?” Nico asks through labored breaths. Sprinting uphill really starting to take its toll on her. The heavy black leather jacket is not doing her any favors right now even though Karolina is objectively a fan of the whole look she’s got going. 

And that is _so_ not relevant now. 

“My house.” Dark brown eyes follow Karolina’s hand to where she’s pointing at a rounded roof that pokes out in the distance. “We can hide in there.” 

They continue on silently but once they reach her home, the reason she spends most of her time escaping it hits Karolina square in the chest. 

Her mom. 

The sudden mental image of her mom’s disapproving frown stops Karolina mid step.

But it’s too late to warn Nico and she stumbles backwards because of their still interlaced hands. 

Oh wow they’re still holding hands. 

Again, this is a lot for Karolina’s heart to handle. 

“Are you okay?” Nico asks.

Nico’s eyes look heavy and there’s blood trickling down her arm from where she got cut by the boulder and they are practically strangers but Nico looks _so_ concerned for her. 

Karolina answers like any normal person would. 

“Yeah totally. Super good... How are you?” 

“Um yeah I’m great. Best day ever. But can we go inside? You have water on this planet, right?” 

“Nope, no water. We’re so highly evolved on Ultra that we don’t need it.” Karolina quips back as she cracks her bedroom window open. 

Nico just huffs in response but there’s the ghost of a smile on her lips. 

“Alright, we just have to go through this window here and you can hide in my room while I get you some water **—** ”

“The window? Seriously? There’s a door right there.” The dehydration must really be getting to Nico because this whiny version is a far cry from the tough and commanding Nico in the canyon.

Nico’s fully pouting now and her nose is definitely sunburnt and Karolina honestly can’t decide which version she likes more. 

(Both)

(Both are good)

“Trust me, you do not want to meet my mom.” 

At that, Nico drops the pout and mutters something like “you don’t want to meet mine either.” Huh, maybe complicated relationships with their moms is another thing they have in common.

It’s a bit of a struggle to get Old Lace through the window especially because Nico is much smaller up close than she seems from afar. Plus Old Lace's complaints about the "scary witch" touching her don't help the situation but they manage to get her inside together. 

Once Karolina is through the window and she sees Nico wandering around her room, it dawns on her that she’s never brought a friend home before. That’s mostly because she doesn’t have any, but even if she did, her mom would never have let her. 

But here she is now, in her bedroom, with a blaster-carrying girl she’s known for about an hour and a very lost droid she’s known for an hour and two minutes. 

Oh and there’s a bounty hunter after them. 

“You weren’t kidding about running away, huh?” Nico’s question mercifully tears Karolina from her internal spiralling. 

Nico gestures toward Karolina’s packed bag that sits on her bed. 

“Yeah, that’s the plan.” 

“Where are you headed?” 

“Atlas Academy.” 

“You’re a pilot?” And wow Nico thinks she’s a real pilot. Like maybe she gives off that vibe? The vibe of someone who has successfully flown off planet and not someone who is barely allowed to drive a landspeeder. 

Karolina could run with that but lying to her after asking Nico to trust her feels wrong. 

“Well no, not exactly **—** ” 

While lost in observing the intricate star chart Karolina drew her ceiling years ago, Nico steps too close to Old Lace and the droid shoots behind Karolina. Looks like Old Lace hasn't forgiven the blaster incident because now she’s throwing a bunch of very valid questions at Karolina. 

Questions that Karolina’s been too distracted to even think about. 

_Who is Nico?_

_What does she want?_

_Is she dangerous?_

Her gut is telling her to trust Nico but there’s still so much she doesn’t know about her. 

“Nico, what do you want with Old Lace?” She asks as gently as she can. When Nico doesn’t say anything she adds, “She just said she doesn’t know you but you knew that bounty hunters would be after her.” 

Nico walks to the window, scanning the desert for AWOL or just finding an excuse to look away from her, Karolina isn’t sure. 

“Look, I’m a bounty hunter too but you know I don’t want to hurt her.” Karolina hates the way her heart flutters at Nico’s easy acceptance that Karolina, on some level, just _knows_ her. “I got the job and I just had a… a feeling that I had to come here. I didn’t exactly have a plan but…. All I know is that there are bad people after this droid and... I know this sounds crazy but something is telling me that we can’t let them have her.”

“Bad people? Like who?”

“Gibb troopers.”

“Like from Gibborim?” 

“Uh yeah, have you been living under a **—** ” 

“A rock?” Karolina finishes for her. “Well kind of.”

Nico’s face pales, probably worried that she’s just offended her. 

But Karolina’s not offended. The opposite really. 

She laughs. And probably not in a cute way. It’s a full belly shaking, eyes closed, head thrown back laugh. 

When she opens her eyes, some color has returned to Nico’s face and the corners of her lips turn up like she’s asking for permission and after scanning Karolina’s face she must find it because she lets out a laugh of her own. 

This has been the weirdest, scariest, best day of her life and Karolina just wants to laugh. Yes, she has been living under a rock but now more than ever she wants to get out from under it and see the rest of what the galaxy has to offer. 

Even if it means more blasters and bounty hunters because she feels so alive right now, in this moment, laughing with Nico.

And she can’t help but want more of this feeling. 

(and more of Nico) 

Once the laughter subsides, Nico’s still looking at Karolina but now with a softness that looks almost out of place with her whole “dark and mysterious bounty hunter” persona. 

It's _really_ a lot for her heart.

Bordering on too much so she opens her mouth to break the silence, maybe ask Nico another question about Gibborim but she never gets a chance because the door flies open and in marches her favorite socially awkward protocol droid. 

“Mistress Karolina. Where have you been? You did not report for your standard morning meal. And I know you weren’t…” Xavin stops when they notice Nico. 

Oh no. 

Xavin's totally going to freak. 

“Xavin, please don’t freak out. This is my friend **—** ” 

“Mistress Leslie.” Xavin screams. “Mistress Leslie. Come quick.”

“Shhhh Xavin. Stop it. Everything’s fine.”

“Mistress Karolina, stand back. I shall terminate the intruder.” 

Okay is so everything is _not_ fine. 

Out of the corner of her eye she can see Nico’s eyes narrow. This introduction is really going south and she needs to fix it before Nico pulls out her blaster again. 

“There’s no need for terminating! Nico’s a friend.” Can you be friends with someone if you’ve only known them for an hour? And can Xavin “terminate” people? The thought that Xavin might be more than just a protocol droid also floats through her head and holy bantha, that’s a lot of unpack if it’s true.

“Stand down, Xavin.” A cool voice commands. 

Seriously? It’s like the galaxy is punishing her for her two minutes of happiness. 

“Mom.”

Her mom stands in the doorway, hands on her hips. She’s so mad, Karolina can feel it. And maybe before that alone would have been enough to turn Karolina back into the obedient daughter she’s so used to being but not now. 

She won’t let her fear of her making her mom angry or disappointed control her.

Not anymore. 

“What’s going in here? Who are you?” Her mom spits at Nico. 

“This is Nico. We met in the canyon. There’s a bounty hunter after the droid and Nico and I are protecting her.” She cuts in before Nico has a chance to answer. 

Karolina can feel that the anger emanating off of her mom is nothing compared to what’s brewing inside of Nico and she wants to keep that contained for the time being.

Old Lace pokes out from behind the bed and her mom gasps. 

“What have you done?” She whispers, almost to herself.

“What do you mean? They needed help, I couldn’t just leave them to get **—** ” 

“The droid. I’ve seen it before.” 

“You know this droid? Where is she from? And why are the Gibbs after her?” Nico inserts herself into the conversation, looking just as confused as Karolina feels. 

“Gibborim are after the droid?” Leslie asks and Karolina wants to point out that answering a question with another question isn’t super helpful but now probably isn’t the best time. 

“Yeah, they have every bounty hunter in this star system after her.” 

“Then you need to take it and get as far from here as possible. You can’t stay here.” 

“Mom, we can’t just kick them out **—** ” 

“Karolina. Let me handle this.” 

Before Karolina can respond, Old Lace bumps into her leg and tells her something that she really doesn't want to hear. 

Not right now. 

This day has already been a lot. 

_You can’t trust her._

“What did it just say?” Her mom asks, panicked. 

Karolina ignores her.

“Who, Old Lace?” Somehow she just knows but she asks anyway. 

Old Lace turns toward her mom. 

The guilt in her mother’s expression gives Karolina confirmation she doesn’t need. 

Karolina closes her eyes, hoping the darkness can block out the mess that this day has become. 

Only, there’s no relief inside her head as pieces of her life flash before her eyes. 

Landing on Ultra. 

The isolation. 

Xavin. 

The mind lifting.

Her mom’s distance. Her fear.

And now her mom happens to know this droid that the whole galaxy is after? 

“How do you know Old Lace?” Karolina’s not even sure she wants an answer.

“Karolina… ” Her mom’s voice breaks and she reaches out for Karolina. There’s a war happening on her mom’s face as different emotions all wrestle for control. 

Fear wins.

Only this time she doesn't school her face like usual. She let's Karolina see it.

See her.

Maybe for the first time ever. 

How can someone look so familiar but completely foreign at the same time?

Karolina takes a step back from her. 

“Mistress Leslie. My scanners detect a ship preparing to land.” Xavin announces. 

Karolina scoffs bitterly at that. Unbelievable. After years of Leslie-imposed isolation, all of a sudden their house is the place to be.

“More bounty hunters?” Karolina asks Nico.

Nico, who’s been silently glaring at her mom this entire conversation, finally redirects her gaze to Karolina. 

“It could be my partner, Alex. I’ve been gone awhile, maybe he’s looking for me.” 

She doesn’t even know Alex but she really hopes it’s him landing in the front yard and not AWOL with backup. 

They rush to the window quickly enough to see the desert disappear, replaced by an imposing black ship with long wings that fold upwards as the ship gets closer to the ground. 

By Nico’s frown, she can tell it’s not her ship landing in Karolina’s backyard and when she feels Nico’s hand curling over her own, she knows they’re in serious trouble. 

“You need to hide.” Her mom says from behind them. 

Nico nods, the hand that’s not holding Karolina’s reaching for her blaster. “That’s a Gibb ship. Guess they decided to come get the droid themselves.” 

“Not just droid.” 

“What do you mean?” Karolina really can’t stop herself from asking questions she doesn’t want the answer to today.

“Karolina, I’m so sorry.”

“Wait. What’s going on here?” Nico asks, blaster pointed her mom now. 

Her mom doesn’t even react, her eyes never leaving Karolina’s. 

“Karolina, they’re here for the droid. And for you.”

And suddenly the ground shifts from under her and she feels like the boulder Nico destroyed, just broken pieces that no longer fit together. 

Her mom has kept her in the dark for her whole life and now she can’t even get an explanation because the Gibborim troopers she’s heard horror stories about are about to come through their front door. 

It's all so much that her knees buckle and the only thing keeping Karolina upright is the warmth of Nico’s palm against hers. 

  
  


* * *

Gert watches from the doorway of Molly’s room as her sister zips up the orange jumpsuits worn by all resistance pilots. The same as the one she’s wearing right now. 

Her X-Wing is all fueled up and ready to go with already coordinates set for Ultra but she’d had a sneaking suspicion all morning that something was off and her suspicion was proven correct when she noticed her extra jumpsuit missing from her closet. 

“It fits.” She says. “Well, almost. Sleeves are a little short.”

And Molly turns, caught. 

“Gert, I **—** ” 

“You look great, Molly. Really. I’m sure you’ll even find a way to spruce it up even more, when you’re old enough to wear it.” 

“But Gert, I’m ready now. I’ve been practicing flying with Chase and he said I was getting really good.” 

“Not sure he’s the best teacher considering everything.” She doesn’t even mean it, not really. It’s totally irrational but he’s missing and it’s much easier to focus her attention on blaming Chase than it is to imagine where he might be. 

Or to remember that she let him go. 

“Come on. That could’ve happened to anybody.” 

“Exactly. That’s why you’re staying here.” Gert hates this. The parenting part. It’s not fair. She’s only four years older but she’s having to fill the role that Dale and Stacey lost their right to when they decided to become murderers. 

“Gert, please let me come with you.” Tears are welling in Molly’s eyes. 

“No. I won't put you in danger.”

“But I have to watch while you put yourself in danger?” Molly's words sting like a slap to the face. 

She and Molly already know what it’s like to leave family behind but that was out of necessity. 

This is out of choice. 

She’s _choosing_ to go on this mission to rescue Old Lace. 

Choosing to leave Molly. 

No, she shouldn’t do this. 

Not after everything they’ve been through. 

“I can stay. I’ll get someone else to go. Tandy. She's on another mission now but I **—** ”

“No.” Molly stops her. She wipes her eyes and takes a deep breath. “Chase and Old Lace need us. Need you.” 

“But what about you? I’m sorry, Molly. I’ve been so focused on getting him back that I wasn’t even thinking about what me leaving would feel like **—** ” 

Before Gert can finish her apology, Molly wraps her arms around her. 

“No, you have to go. I just wanted to be your backup. Keep you safe.” 

“Molly **—** ”

“I know. It’s okay. Just… come back as fast as you can.” 

“Always.” She whispers, sinking further into the hug. 

It’s even more unfair that Molly’s had to take on a parent role too, taking care of her more than Gert wants to admit. 

They walk out to the tarmac together. The La Brea winds whipping around them as they stand next to her X-Wing. The OL unit she’s borrowing already in position in the rear. 

After one last hug and a quick _stay out of trouble_ warning, she hops into the cockpit. 

She hasn’t flown in a few weeks. Not since she and Chase had fought off some Gibb troopers invading a small mining town. The town was overrun by those stupid troopers in their stupid all white armor, acting like they’re there to help when all they do is destroy everything they touch. 

There’s nothing worse than a bad guy who thinks he’s the good guy.

Her course to Ultra appears on her monitor and she waves to Molly one more time before lifting off. 

That girl better stay out of trouble. 

But who is she kidding?

Of course she won’t. 

That’s what makes her, her. 

Molly’s a fighter. 

But secretly Gert wishes Molly was more of a reader or maybe even a hacker? 

Then she wouldn’t have to worry so much. 

How much trouble could she realistically get in from behind a screen?

And great, now that she’s thought that, Molly’s 100% going to get into trouble behind a screen. 

Wow this trip is off to a great start. 

“I should’ve brought some music for the flight. It would’ve been better than being trapped in space with my own thoughts.” Gert jokes to the new OL unit. 

_Would you like me to access music archives?_ The droid beeps. 

“No, I was… nevermind.” 

The new guy may look like Old Lace but has none of her personality. 

“Don’t worry Lacey, I’m coming for you.” She whispers to herself. 

By the time she comes out of lightspeed, Gert has had time to chart and categorize every worst case scenario she can think of so the journey wasn’t exactly relaxing but at least she’s made it. 

The dull brown planet appears in front of her and Gert wonders why anyone would ever want to come here?

Well, hopefully she won’t be on Ultra for long. 

She can see the remains of the Leapfrog when she lands. But unfortunately that’s not all she sees. 

There’s another ship not far from hers. 

So she’s got company. 

Awesome. 

Her choices now are wait and see if whoever's on the other ship will attack her _or_ she attacks them first. 

She’s more of a “wait and see” kinda gal but what if they have Old Lace?

Maybe she should’ve put more consideration into Molly’s offer of backup.

No. 

It’s fine. She’s got this. 

With her blaster in hand, she jumps down from her X-Wing. 

She passes the Leapfrog on her way to the other ship. 

It wasn’t a bad crash. And she knows Chase survived it. 

He _had_ to have survived. The last operation he authorized on the Leapfrog was disabling Old Lace’s tracking, meaning that someone was after them and yeah they may have taken Chase but he made sure they couldn’t find Old Lace. 

He’s such an idiot. 

(A brave, infuriating, genius, idiot)

The other ship’s loading ramp is down so either they’re not home or they’re expecting someone else back. 

It’s a pretty nice ship. A little older but it’s in good condition. Chase would know what model but if Gert had to guess she’d say it’s a Corellian Model VI freighter but she’s not sure. 

(No, she has not been reading the old starship manual he keeps under his bed)

(She's just skimmed it once)

(Twice) 

Once she’s up the ramp, she hears the light clicks of keys pressing into a keyboard. 

Someone’s home. 

The blaster feels heavy in her hand. She likes fighting in the air. The distance of it. Not having to really look at the people shooting at you in the face. 

This is different. 

As she rounds the corner to the cockpit, a voice calls out to her. 

“Hey Nico, I reset the scanners to look for the droid but they’re giving me nothing which is disappointing because usually these babies work their magic for me and before you say anything, if you built a highly functioning radar system using only stolen parts, you’d think of it as your baby too.” 

Well that’s not what she was expecting. There’s no way _this guy_ is holding Old Lace hostage. 

“Nico? How was your rock climbing adventure **—** ” And Gert moves before she can really think about it.

“Hands up.” 

“Whoa. Who are you? You’re not in the Guild.” He complies easily and Gert guess this comes with the territory of being a bounty hunter. 

“Nope. I’m on a tight schedule here and since you don’t have my droid maybe your partner Nico does. Where is she?”

“ _Your_ droid?” 

“Yes, well no, not exactly. Technically no one owns her. It’s a whole thing. Anyway, I know you’re working for the Magistrate but trust me I’ll hurt you more than he can if you don’t tell me where your partner is.” 

“We’re not working for the Magistrate. We only took this job to try to find the droid before the Gibbs do.” 

“That doesn’t sound like the bounty hunters I know.”

“Well you don’t sound like any of the resistance pilots I know.” Gert tries not to be offended by that. 

“Know a lot of resistance pilots?”

“You meet a lot of people in this job.” 

Gert looks at him. He’s scrawny. More hair than muscles. She could probably take him in a fist fight if it came to it. 

“Fine.” She says lowering her blaster. “The enemy of my enemy is a friend, I guess. I’m Gert.” 

“Alex. Look, I’ll help you get your droid back as long as you tell me why the hell the Gibbs are after it.”

“From what I can tell you have a very intense relationship with computers. Any chance you can fix a tracking beacon?” Gert deflects. She may have put the blaster away but that doesn’t mean she has to trust him. 

Old Lace is holding the key to destroying the Magistrate’s super weapon and Alex may be willing to help her now but she can’t take the risk the chance that his allegiance might change if he found out just how important this droid is. 

“A tracker. Why the hell didn’t I think of that?” Alex sounds disappointed. 

“So, can you?”

“I can fix anything.” 

Yeah right, Gert thinks.

But no. 

As annoying as it is to admit, he actually can. 

Gert stands back borderline uselessly as Alex jump starts the Leapfrog long enough for him to get Old Lace’s tracker back online. As much as Gert hates being relegated to the role of “lookout” in what was supposed to be her big rescue mission, she can’t help but want to give this nerd a high five. 

“The droid’s there.” Alex points. “Just over that ridge, passed the canyon.” 

“Let’s go.”

“Wait up, rebel. I have to wait for Nico.” 

“We can pick her up on the way.” Gert calls over her shoulder, already heading back to Alex’s ship as if it were her own. 

She doesn’t know what’s over that ridge so she might as well take all the help she can get and while Alex doesn’t look like he’d be much help in a fight, that must mean his partner Nico is. How else could they hack it as bounty hunters? Someone has to be good in a fight. 

Once they get the ship going, Alex’s scanners start doing their “magic,” searching for signs of Nico in the canyon.

“And by “magic” did you mean an empty screen?” The impatience growing in Gert as they trail over the winding walls of the canyon. 

“This is so weird. She should be showing up. I mean, I saw her go down there.” 

“Wait, look.” Gert points at a blinking dot on the scanner. “Is that the same place as where Old Lace is?”

“Do you believe in coincidences?”

“Your friend better not have touched a single wire on my freaking droid.” 

“Trust me, Nico’s not the touchy type.” 

“That’s not comforting. Like at all **—** ”

“Gert. We’ve got a problem.” Gert turns and looks where Alex’s eyes are glued. 

No.

No.

No.

She’s too late. 

How could she be too late?

“That’s a Gibb transport. They’re already here.” 

They watch as Gibb troopers begin filing out of the grounded transport and toward the small house that Old Lace and Nico are supposed to be inside of. 

Way to go Gert. 

“We have to land before they see us.” She hisses at Alex.

He doesn’t argue which makes Gert think that whoever he is, he’s dealt with Gibborim before. 

He understands how serious this situation has just become. 

Good. 

Because she’s really going to need his help now getting Old Lace. 

“Is that **—** ” 

“The Magistrate.” She whispers. 

The Magistrate himself walks down the ramp after his troopers. His black robes flow behind him, making him look even bigger than he really is. And in his hand, Gert sees something she’s only seen in clips, fragments really, of Old Lace’s memories.

A lightsaber. 

Its glow lighting the Magistrate’s face in a deep red.

Gert knows what that weapon can do. What it has done. 

“You got a plan?” She asks Alex because she is really out of ideas. She'd imagined all scenarios, it seems, except this one. The one where she and a computer nerd take on the Magistrate and at least twenty troopers. And with backup too far to help, what kind of chance do the two of them really have?

“Yeah. Here's the plan. We fight.” He says, resigned and angry. 

Like there’s no other choice in front of them. 

And really, there isn’t. 

If Alex isn’t giving up well then neither is she. Between the two of them, they can take out a few troopers and fingers crossed this Nico person knows how to shoot too. 

And maybe with some luck they just might pull this off. 

As happy as she is that Molly is safe at the resistance base, she selfishly wishes she was here if only so Gert could channel just an ounce of her sister’s courage. 

If Molly was here, she’d tell her she already has that courage. Gert just has to believe it.

She takes a deep breath. 

This is about more than her. 

More than Old Lace or even Chase.

The fate of the galaxy is in that house and Gert's not about to let the Magistrate win.

“The plan's simple. I like it.” Gert pulls out her second blaster that she keeps hidden in her boot. She's never needed to use it before but hey there's a first time for everything and this fight is gonna require as much fire power as possible.

"Let's go." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading! got a lot more action coming at you next time. if you want to come yell about star wars with me on tumblr, i'm mack-attack12

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed, if you any questions hit me up in the comments or i'm on tumblr @mack-attack12


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